Sometimes it's easier to identify when a cafe is doing something wrong, rather than when it's doing something right. Bad decor, poor lighting and acoustics, indifferent wait staff, bland food - these are all obvious markers. But a cafe that gets things right often does so in an unobtrusive way: the vibe just feels right, the coffee is good, the food is interesting and well executed, and you leave feeling upbeat.
Cornershop in Yarraville is a cafe that's doing things right. Run by a former partner at Le Chien, it ticks all the boxes. The vibe is warm and welcoming. Seating options include seats looking out of the big windows onto Ballarat St, at the rectangular communal table, at little tables along the wall or outside in the small, sunny courtyard which is heated with gas heaters in winter. Solitary diners tapping away on laptops, people reading books or newspapers and mums with bubs and prams in tow are all part of the mix.
Despite the large windows, the interior is quite dark but it's more welcoming and clubby than drab and uninviting. The dark floor and dark wooden tables are brightened by splashes of colour from the very busy, but not noisy, red coffee machine and the work/bar area is lined in pale-green pressed metal. The specials are featured on an old bookies' tote board , while the generous counter is lined with old-fashioned cake stands and platters full of cakes, biscuits and muffins.
A long black, made with the house Supreme blend, arrives quickly and is sweet on the palate, while the flat white is one of the best I've had in Yarraville. It's smooth and sweet, with no bitter aftertaste. Breakfast options include the usual suspects - scrambled or poached eggs, fruit toast and jam and Bircher muesli - plus some more special offerings such as ricotta hotcakes, Spanish beans with paprika and chorizo, and baked eggs, the composition of which changes each day. The lunch menu includes zucchini fritters, a steak sandwich, crystal bay prawns, salads and toasted pides.
Avocado on sourdough appears on both the breakfast and lunch menus. Rather than serving the toast with pre-mashed avocado smeared over it, this dish comes with a perfectly cut half of a large ripe avocado, topped with a jumble of rocket and fetta crumbles, beside two smallish pieces of thick sourdough, toasted to just the right golden-brown shade and generously buttered. It's a lovely and fresh summery dish, with the rocket and lemon juice adding a zing to the creamy fetta and smooth avocado.
Ricotta hotcakes come with fruit adjusted for the season: perhaps basil-poached peaches in summer and poached autumn fruits later in the year. Three misshapen ovals, shaped like pikelets but with a lighter texture thanks to the ricotta, are piping hot and barely any time must have elapsed since sliding them from the pan onto the plate and out the door to my table. The poached pears and dates are nicely spiced, with peppery star anise adding some bite to the soft cinnamon flavours.
There are several outstanding cafes already in Yarraville Village but Cornershop has carved out a comfortable niche for itself in a short time. Great coffee and an innovative menu ensures that this cafe is never short of a customer, despite the local competition and imminent demise of the restaurant industry predicted by pessimists spooked by the global financial crisis. Cornershop proves that cafe owners and operators who understand their market and get the fundamentals right will always have a loyal audience.
Cornershop, 9 Ballarat St, Yarraville.
9689 0052
Showing posts with label Yarraville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yarraville. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Friday, September 28, 2007
Random food jottings
A few days of annual leave from work gave me the opportunity to wander Melbourne's streets and sample our eclectic range of foodie treasures. We are so spoiled for choice in Melbourne with the quality and range of the food venues we have. Here's a sample of what I found in my jaunts around our fair city.
Noisette, Bay St, Port Melbourne
I've heard good things about Noisette patisserie and boulangerie in Bay St, Port Melbourne, so it was great to drop in for breakfast and sample the range. Noisette has a modern, stylish interior, with a chocolate-brown banquette lining one wall, facing out towards glass cabinets loaded with sweet and savoury delicacies: pain au chocolat, almond croissants, danishes, brioche, baguettes and boxes of little biscuits. We planned to share an escargot and an almond croissant, but I took one bite of the croissant and knew I couldn't share. The crescent of flaky pastry is filled with a dense sweetish almond filling and topped with almond flakes dredged in icing sugar. We ordered a pear and chocolate danish to share instead. The escargot was filled with plump sultanas and had a nice firm texture, while the chocolate and pear combination was a perfect match and not too sweet. The coffees were smooth and well-brewed and the cafe latte was served in a groovy giant egg-shaped cup. We left empty-handed but could easily have loaded up with some baguettes and sweet brioches. I will definitely be revisiting Noisette.
Babka, Brunswick St, Fitzroy
In all my years living in Melbourne and dining in Brunswick St, I can't believe I've never visited Babka. It was time to rectify this, so I popped in at lunchtime and perched myself in a window seat. The window bench is nice and wide, allowing plenty of room to spread out a newspaper to read without encroaching on your neighbour's space. Despite the note on the blackboard menu warning of a 20-minute wait, I ordered the dumplings, and enjoyed a well-made flat white while I waited. The 20 minutes passed quickly, as I had my head buried in Epicure, and soon enough a plate of fat dumplings was placed before me. I ordered the mixed dumplings - some came with potato and others with a mushroom mix. The texture was beautiful - filling but not heavy. A plate of dumplings with no greens or salad might seem like a heavy dish, but the accompanying dollop of sour cream, topped with snipped chives, was a perfect counterbalance and this was a satisfying meal. I enjoyed many types of pierogi in Poland and these dumplings reminded me of the pierogi - something I had not yet found in Melbourne.
Jasper's Coffee, Brunswick St, Fitzroy
This is heaven for a caffeine addict. The aroma of coffee beans greets you was you walk in the door, with buckets of coffee beans from around the world on display to tempt you. There are descriptions of the different characteristics of each bean type and the helpful staff are more than happy to talk you through the beans on offer, carefully listening to your coffee preference and the type of machine or coffee gadget you have at home so that they can tailor the type and ground of bean accordingly. There's also loads of coffee gadgets, such as knock bins and tampers, on display, as well as shelves full of chocolates. This is a great place to be tempted out of your caffeine comfort zone.
Hausfrau, Ballarat St, Yarraville
This an airy, welcoming little bakery-cafe that is also relatively pram-friendly. It fills like a European bakery, with the staff decked out in cute little headscarves and deliciously sinful cakes, such as Esterhazy torte or Swiss chocolate cake, filling up the glass display cases. and A long bench, lined with colourful cushions, runs alongside the plate-glass windows that look out on Ballarat St. There's over-sized cooking implements, such as a whisk, hanging from one wall, while two lovely old enamel jugs full of water are set out on a wooden tray so you can help yourself. There is a stack of cooking and design magazines available for you to peruse while you eat lunch or drink coffee. The glass counter holds a mix of sweet and savoury items, with large cakes and tortes also available to take away. On the day I visit, the items on offer include salmon and cabbage coulibiac, sun-dried tomato tarts, quiches, meringue roulade, berry muffins, sacher torte, lemon slice and custard tarts. Jock's Ice-Cream is now also available.
Andrew's Choice, Anderson St, Yarraville
I've read lots of recommendations about Andrew's Choice, a traditional old-fashioned butcher in Yarraville, so I finally made the visit. What a treasure trove! This is more than just a butchery. Of course there are all types of meat available, including the famous cheese kranskys, thick steaks, juicy roastsand plump sausages, but the shelves of the shop are lined with all sorts of foodie treasures, such as Maldon sea salt, jars of duck fat, Phillippa's bread and biscuits, spices, mustards, vinegars and oils. I could have spent hours and hundreds of dollars there, but I contented myself with buying four fat cheese kranskys, which more than lived up to their reputation. They were juicy and full of flavour and I will be back for more soon.
Queen Victoria Market
How could I not mention my favourite food place in Melbourne? It has been too long since I last visited and I just wanted to buy everything I laid my eyes on. It was good to buy my old favourites: spinach and pine-nut dip, a block of creamy Warrnambool butter, marinara mix, fillets of fresh fish, some sausages and rissoles for a family BBQ, and loads of fresh fruit and vegetables at fabulous prices. Apart from convenience, I don't know why anyone would bother buying fruit and vegetables at the supermarket. The quality and range of produce available at the Vic Market is amazing. I love being able to chat to the stallholders and to ask their advice and opinion on what's best that week or how to cook something unusual. We are so very fortunate in Melbourne to have this market in our city and long may it thrive.
Noisette, Bay St, Port Melbourne
I've heard good things about Noisette patisserie and boulangerie in Bay St, Port Melbourne, so it was great to drop in for breakfast and sample the range. Noisette has a modern, stylish interior, with a chocolate-brown banquette lining one wall, facing out towards glass cabinets loaded with sweet and savoury delicacies: pain au chocolat, almond croissants, danishes, brioche, baguettes and boxes of little biscuits. We planned to share an escargot and an almond croissant, but I took one bite of the croissant and knew I couldn't share. The crescent of flaky pastry is filled with a dense sweetish almond filling and topped with almond flakes dredged in icing sugar. We ordered a pear and chocolate danish to share instead. The escargot was filled with plump sultanas and had a nice firm texture, while the chocolate and pear combination was a perfect match and not too sweet. The coffees were smooth and well-brewed and the cafe latte was served in a groovy giant egg-shaped cup. We left empty-handed but could easily have loaded up with some baguettes and sweet brioches. I will definitely be revisiting Noisette.
Babka, Brunswick St, Fitzroy
In all my years living in Melbourne and dining in Brunswick St, I can't believe I've never visited Babka. It was time to rectify this, so I popped in at lunchtime and perched myself in a window seat. The window bench is nice and wide, allowing plenty of room to spread out a newspaper to read without encroaching on your neighbour's space. Despite the note on the blackboard menu warning of a 20-minute wait, I ordered the dumplings, and enjoyed a well-made flat white while I waited. The 20 minutes passed quickly, as I had my head buried in Epicure, and soon enough a plate of fat dumplings was placed before me. I ordered the mixed dumplings - some came with potato and others with a mushroom mix. The texture was beautiful - filling but not heavy. A plate of dumplings with no greens or salad might seem like a heavy dish, but the accompanying dollop of sour cream, topped with snipped chives, was a perfect counterbalance and this was a satisfying meal. I enjoyed many types of pierogi in Poland and these dumplings reminded me of the pierogi - something I had not yet found in Melbourne.
Jasper's Coffee, Brunswick St, Fitzroy
This is heaven for a caffeine addict. The aroma of coffee beans greets you was you walk in the door, with buckets of coffee beans from around the world on display to tempt you. There are descriptions of the different characteristics of each bean type and the helpful staff are more than happy to talk you through the beans on offer, carefully listening to your coffee preference and the type of machine or coffee gadget you have at home so that they can tailor the type and ground of bean accordingly. There's also loads of coffee gadgets, such as knock bins and tampers, on display, as well as shelves full of chocolates. This is a great place to be tempted out of your caffeine comfort zone.
Hausfrau, Ballarat St, Yarraville
This an airy, welcoming little bakery-cafe that is also relatively pram-friendly. It fills like a European bakery, with the staff decked out in cute little headscarves and deliciously sinful cakes, such as Esterhazy torte or Swiss chocolate cake, filling up the glass display cases. and A long bench, lined with colourful cushions, runs alongside the plate-glass windows that look out on Ballarat St. There's over-sized cooking implements, such as a whisk, hanging from one wall, while two lovely old enamel jugs full of water are set out on a wooden tray so you can help yourself. There is a stack of cooking and design magazines available for you to peruse while you eat lunch or drink coffee. The glass counter holds a mix of sweet and savoury items, with large cakes and tortes also available to take away. On the day I visit, the items on offer include salmon and cabbage coulibiac, sun-dried tomato tarts, quiches, meringue roulade, berry muffins, sacher torte, lemon slice and custard tarts. Jock's Ice-Cream is now also available.
Andrew's Choice, Anderson St, Yarraville
I've read lots of recommendations about Andrew's Choice, a traditional old-fashioned butcher in Yarraville, so I finally made the visit. What a treasure trove! This is more than just a butchery. Of course there are all types of meat available, including the famous cheese kranskys, thick steaks, juicy roastsand plump sausages, but the shelves of the shop are lined with all sorts of foodie treasures, such as Maldon sea salt, jars of duck fat, Phillippa's bread and biscuits, spices, mustards, vinegars and oils. I could have spent hours and hundreds of dollars there, but I contented myself with buying four fat cheese kranskys, which more than lived up to their reputation. They were juicy and full of flavour and I will be back for more soon.
Queen Victoria Market
How could I not mention my favourite food place in Melbourne? It has been too long since I last visited and I just wanted to buy everything I laid my eyes on. It was good to buy my old favourites: spinach and pine-nut dip, a block of creamy Warrnambool butter, marinara mix, fillets of fresh fish, some sausages and rissoles for a family BBQ, and loads of fresh fruit and vegetables at fabulous prices. Apart from convenience, I don't know why anyone would bother buying fruit and vegetables at the supermarket. The quality and range of produce available at the Vic Market is amazing. I love being able to chat to the stallholders and to ask their advice and opinion on what's best that week or how to cook something unusual. We are so very fortunate in Melbourne to have this market in our city and long may it thrive.
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